PNG ICCC WARNS RETAILERS NOT TO SELL BANNED TOYS

The Papua New Guinea Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) have issued a warning to retailers who keep selling banned toys.

The warning was issued during a press conference last Thursday in Port Moresby.

Christmas is just around the corner and parents or guardians in PNG are looking forward to purchase toys for their kids. But with ICCC’s warning on banned toys, there are precautions to be taken.

ICCC Commissioner Dr. Billy Manoka stated during the press conference that the banned toys, which were selected after conducting surveys last year and this year, are considered unsafe for children to use, but some stores are still selling them.

“For those toys that have been banned and for the traders who have continued to sell these toys, we are going to take them to court. That’s the next course of action,” said Manoka.

One of the banned toys is a yoyo water ball, which has been considered dangerous as it can twist around a child’s neck and lead to strangulation. The liquid inside the water ball has been tested to be dangerous, and so is risky for both kids and adults if it spills out while being used.

“The yoyo water ball cord is made of a rubbery sticky material plastic that can stretch over a metre in length, and if swung around the head of a child, the cord can constrain breathing and cause choking if worn tightly around a child’s neck,” Manoka said.

Other banned toys are cigarette lighters and small, high-powered magnets.

Warnings have also been imposed with regards to some aquatic and projectile toys. The ICCC recommends that only those aquatic and projectile toys which have warnings written on them in understandable language can be bought.

The public is also urged to comply with the toy bans, by not purchasing the banned items and also to report any retailer or wholesaler that is selling such toys.

“We don’t want Papua New Guinea to be a dumping ground of not only toys but goods that have been banned in other countries,” said Mr. Manoka. EMTV